Dagger Woods is a small rural community located amid softwood forest and marshland slightly less than 10 kilometers east of the university town of Antigonish, Nova Scotia. Anyone driving Highway 104 to or from the eastern part of the province will be familiar with the turnoff.

Tales of a malevolent being haunting the woods began to spread shortly after the area was first settled in the late 1700’s. Locally referred to as the Hidey-Hinder, and also known as the Dagger Woods Howler, legend connects the thing to a crime of passion in which a husband killed his wife with a pearl handled dagger before fleeing into the depths of Dagger Woods, never to be seen or heard from again. Some believe the Howler is him, doomed to relive his dark deed in perpetuity. Still others believe his evil woke something in those woods that took him, and now either cannot or will not rest.

Whichever it is, those alive today who have encountered the thing describe the experience the same way – at first a horrendous, inhuman scream is heard in the distance, followed at intervals by more of the same, each time closer and more deafening. No one can describe it because nerve either runs out before the Howler is near enough at hand to see, or the witness disappears without a trace.

Halifax band The Stanfields were inspired to produce a song based on the legend of Dagger Woods titled, naturally enough, Dagger Woods. I’ll leave you with the lyrics and a video of The Stanfields performing it. That’s some good toe tapping darkness right there!

Dagger Woods

Out in the woods not long ago,
Outside of town ten miles or so,
Man and wife and two small babies
Camping in a glade.
On an Indian Summer getaway,
A weekend full of rest and play,
Tuckered out from their full day
Now sitting ’round the fire.
But lurking in the shadows was a demon
With a big ‘ol set of eyes.
And an appetite for souls like yours.
Feeding time tonight.
They never heard it coming,
They never saw it coming,
They were never seen or heard from again.

The Hidey-Hinder,
Through the gates of Hades,
Overcame Daddy
And took the mama and babies.
The Hidey-Hinder done took ‘em good,
Back to its lair, deep in Dagger Woods.

The tale goes back a hundred years,
Through the countless days and hours,
When the golden plow first broke the land,
Folks started disappearing.
The locals swear beyond a doubt,
It came over on the first slow boat,
The bloodthirsty monster
They call the Hidey-Hinder.
An old world apparition hitched a ride
To the new world in disguise.
Supernatural baggage in the hold
From a hard life left behind.
If they knew what they was bringin’
I sure would not be singin’
‘Bout the people never seen or heard again.

The Hidey-Hinder
Of the old world nations,
You’ve reigned in terror
For seven generations.
Oh Hidey-Hinder, I wish I could
Prove you exist, deep in Dagger Woods.

Now let’s go back to the present day,
To a prison far the other way,
To a broken lonely man.
That lonely man is me.
I told the judge what I’m telling you,
He said, “Such a thing cannot be true.”
He locked me up for murder
And threw away the key.
He said the only monster that he’s seen
Sits right before his eyes.
He stared me down,
Shook his head,
And condemned me
As a sick man telling lies.
I shoulda seen it comin’.
Shoulda known that it was comin’.
Now I’ll never see the light of day again.

Oh Hidey-Hinder
Of the million maybes
I know to be true.
My Jilly and my babies.
Oh Hidey-Hinder ya done took ‘em good,
Away from me, deep in Dagger Woods.

That’s where I should be, in Dagger Woods.
Hanging from a tree, in Dagger Woods,
For all the world to see, in Dagger Woods.
Back with my family, in Dagger Woods.

There was an extensive and excellent article on the Dagger Woods legend that appeared in a local newspaper some time in the past 20 years that I have been trying to locate for quite a spell. Unfortunately, even with a computer full of internets, it's proven elusive, but I will eventually prevail and no doubt revisit the subject.

Sadly, no Dan. We still check periodically because the results of search engine inquiries tend to evolve over time. When (I say when) anything turns up, I will certainly be crowing about it because it was an excellent treatment of the subject.